FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 9, 2001
Contact: Drew Goesl 

Arkansas Senators Introduce New Farm Bill
Bipartisan Bill Provides Stronger Safety Net, Maximum Flexibility

Washington – Arkansas Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) today introduced bipartisan legislation to rewrite federal farm policy. Their legislation, which is closely modeled after the House Farm Bill, retains maximum flexibility for producers, increases successful conservation programs, and provides a strong safety-net amidst economic and weather-related disasters.

The bipartisan Lincoln-Hutchinson bill is cosponsored by Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC), Zell Miller (D-GA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and John Breaux (D-LA).

"The inputs costs our farmers have experienced over recent years have skyrocketed, while the prices they receive for their commodities continue to fall," said Senator Lincoln. "It is not only our farmers who are suffering as a result of failed government policy. The institutions of small-town and rural America – local banks and merchants, feed and supply stores, equipment dealers, even corner groceries and family-owned hardware stores – are all caught in the web of financial collapse. Today, we offer a farm bill that will ensure a strong, safety net for America's farmers, ranchers and rural America. Now more than ever the strength of our national economy, and strength of our infrastructure depend on the stability of rural America and the agriculture producers that support it."

"Farmers in Arkansas and across the nation are counting on Congress to craft a strong and responsible Farm Bill this year so that they will be able to plant next year," said Hutchinson. "Rather than rely on emergency payments each year, our bill will create the type of stability and certainty our farmers need to compete effectively in the global marketplace. This bill offers the best chance for getting a bill to the President this fall; I hope it will be brought to the Senate floor very soon."

Lincoln and Hutchinson introduced their legislation as a catalyst for Senate action on a new Farm Bill this year. While the House of Representatives passed its Farm bill over a month ago, the Senate Agriculture Committee has been slow to move a measure to the Senate floor. In addition, the draft bill currently being considered in the Senate is markedly different from the House Farm Bill, endangering prospects of negotiating a final measure that can be sent to the President before the end of the year.

The Lincoln-Hutchinson bill offers producers a strong, predictable safety net by providing three forms of commodity assistance: fixed, decoupled payments; marketing loans; and counter-cyclical support. The bill also offers producers the choice of updating program bases in response to market conditions.

The legislation expands participation for soil and water conservation programs by almost 80 percent above current budget trends. In particular, it increases annual enrollment in the Wetlands Reserve Program by 150,000 acres, raises the cap in the Conservation Reserve Program to 39.2 million acres, and provides $1.3 billion annually for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

On trade, the bill reauthorizes the Market Access Program with an increase of $180 million per year and increases funding for the food aid program, Food for Progress, by $100 million over ten years. Additionally, the bill will help open new markets through greater support and flexibility for a host of other programs designed to open new markets to American producers. The bill also increases funding for important nutrition programs which America's neediest families depend on.